Refreshing Sarangan Lake

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Indonesia becomes one of the most favorite tourism destinations in the world since it offers the visitors a huge range of attractions. The tourists are pampered with various types of attractions starting from only sightseeing on fascinating landscapes, learning historical sites, enjoying wide choices of delicacies until having extreme sport attractions.

The tourists are usually able to enjoy more than one tourism spot in one area. Among the cities in Indonesia, Surakarta which is widely known as Solo becomes one of the favorite. Many tourists love to explore Solo and the surrounding area. Not too far from Solo, there is a small town named Magetan which hides a beautiful paradise. The paradise is called Sarangan Lake.

Sarangan Lake which is also known as Pasir Lake is located on the slope of Mount Lawu in Plaosan, Magetan Regency, East Java. Magetan acts as the boundary between East Java and Central Java. The lake itself lies about 16 km to west from downtown Magetan.

Since the lake is located about 1.000 m from sea surface, the temperature in this area is quite low. It is about 18 – 23 Celsius degree. This place will be great for a place to relax after such long busy holidays. The tourists are able to breathe the fresh air and enjoy the green of Sidoramping hill that surrounds the lake.

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Getting into Sarangan Lake is not too difficult. The easier access to reach the lake is by taking a bus ride from Solo. The tourists have to take two different buses from solo. Before getting into Sarangan, the tourist should take a Solo – Tawangmangu bus. The bus can be found easily every 30 minutes in Tirtonadi bus station.

The bus operates daily from dawn until around 08.00 p.m. The bus ticket costs $0.8. The tourist should stop in Tawangmangu bus station in Karanganyar and take another public transportation taking Tawangmangu – Sarangan route. It takes about 1 hour from Solo to reach Tawangmangu.

The trip from Tawangmangu to Sarangan cost $0.6. The regency government always takes a good care of the roads in the regency so that the tourist will have a quite comfortable journey. However, the roads to Sarangan village are mostly steep, winding and narrow. Sometimes, the tourists will get dizzy and nauseous. The trip will take about 30 minutes.

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However, within these 30 minutes, the tourists will be able to see the beauty of the highlands. They will be able to see various vegetable farms. In harvesting time, the visitors will be able to see the farmers washing fresh carrots in the small gutter alongside the roads. Besides, there are also cabbage, tomatoes, bean, cauliflower, mustard and so on.

The farmers sometimes sell the vegetables in a very low price. Just about 10 minutes to Sarangan, the tourists are also able to find some strawberry sellers. Wanting to have more private trip, the tourists can also rent motorcycles or car from Solo.

For a motorcycle, the rent fee ranges from $4 to $6. The car rent fee ranges from $34 to $150 per day depending on the type of car taken. The tourist can also board taxi from Solo to Sarangan. They should spend approximately $19.

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Sarangan Lake has some attractions to entertain the visitors. There are about 50 motor boats that will take the visitors around the lake. The motor boat rent cost $7.5. Having a kid with them, the tourists are able to enjoy the lake by riding paddle boat. The rent fee cost $1.5.

There are also many horses that will take the visitors around the out ring of the lake. There will be a jockey to guide the visitors around if they are afraid to ride the horses alone. One lap will cost $2. Tired of walking around the lake, the visitors are able to have a rest in the restaurants alongside the lake.

The price of the dishes ranges from $0.5 to $1.5. There restaurants also serve beverages such as iced tea, iced coffee, iced young coconut, soft drinks and such. The beverage price ranges from $0.1 to $0.6.

Talking about the dishes, Sarangan is very famous for its rabbit sate. Sate is small pieces of meat roasted on skewer. It is usually served with rice or lontong (steamed rice rolls). The tourist should pay $0.8 for one portion of the dish.

Wanting to spend the nights at Sarangan Lake, the visitors are able to stay a lodge. There are also some lodges that can be found around the lake. The hotels are close to the lake so that the visitors can reach the lake on foot. It only takes about 10 minutes.

The hotels have various room rates. The room rate in Asia Jaya Hotel ranges from $2.5 to $4.5 per night. Graha Cirro Stratus offers from $11 to $13 for each room.

The room rates in Hotel Indah range from $7.5 to $60. Hotel Sarangan offers $45 to $112. Backpacker travelers will be able to find some hostels with low price. Lawu Hotel, Srimaya Hotel and Mulia Hotel offer $3 for each room.

Meanwhile Wisma Lestari, Nusa Indah Hotel and Nusantara Hotel offer $4 for each room. The rates usually changes in holiday peak season such as New Year and school holidays. The visitors wanting to spend the night in Sarangan Lake are suggested to have thick clothes such as jacket and sweater with them since the night in the lake will be so cold.

Having mosquito repellant will be great since there are many mosquitoes in mountainous area. Outside the hotels, there are usually baked corn sellers. Thus the travelers would be able to enjoy the night while having some baked corns or hot coffee. If the travelers want to buy some souvenirs, there are also many souvenirs shops in front of the hotels.